Whenever you discuss topics involving the job market, one element definitely jumps out immediately – the differences between the sexes. It’s a discussion we’ve had in this blog many times, mostly because women are pointedly in the minority when it comes to management positions. Although jobs are hard to come by these days due to economic slowdown, women are still not getting as many open management job positions as men. This trend is changing though.
According to a story in The Erie Times-News out of Pennsylvania, women are beginning to take the upper hand in school district administration positions, at least in Pennsylvania:
“Women now outnumber men as public school principals, according to the most recent data available from the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics. Women held 51 percent of public school principal jobs in June 2009.
Just 15 years earlier, only 21 percent of school principals were women.Locally in this academic year, women hold 42 percent of local principal and co-principal jobs, by an Erie Times-News count. They’re ahead of the curve for school superintendents.In northwestern Pennsylvania’s 17 public school districts, 35 percent are led by women, compared with 22 percent nationwide.”
The article says that this trend in Pennsylvania will continue and begin to show a shift across the entire nation, primarily because of the data regarding graduate programs in education. These programs, which are required for school administration positions, are filled with more women than men and the disparity goes up every year.
“ ‘A large part of our graduate school overall, and our graduate program in education in particular, are women,’ said Andy Pushchak, who directs Edinboro University of Pennsylvania’s graduate-level education programs.
Women make up slightly more than half of the enrollment in Edinboro’s masters-level courses in educational leadership and in courses required for superintendent certification. Only in principal certification programs are men still in the majority, said Erinn Lake, associate dean of graduate studies and research.”
